Souths proved to be worthy winners of the 2014 NRL premiership.

It's not an easy thing for a Bulldogs fan to admit but Souths were just never going to be denied.

I've got a list of excuses as long as my arm for why the Bulldogs didn't win, mainly injuries to key players and the disruption to the team's preparation but at the end of the day Souths were just too good.

Who could fault the effort of Sam Burgess, who injured his cheekbone on the rock hard head of James Graham in the opening tackle? Or the performance of Apisai Koroisau, who was called in to replace the suspended Issac Luke, despite having played just 13 previous first grade games.

That's not to say there wasn't courage on the Bulldogs side either. How they hung in to only trail 6-0 at half-time is beyond me. They didn't help themselves, dropping the ball on a number of occasions but they kept defending grimly and gave themselves a chance.

When they got back to 6-all after a Tony Williams try, I thought momentum might have been on their side but Souths dug in.

Rather than getting flustered at finding themselves back at square one after dominating the contest, they put their heads down and scored another try.

Then they kicked a goal to give themselves an eight point buffer and that proved to be too much for the Bulldogs to handle.

I might be biased but I don't think the Bulldogs deserved what happened in the last 10 minutes.

The blowout score didn't show just how deep they dug early on to repel the Rabbitohs.

Begrudgingly I congratulate the Bunnies. They have gone through some incredibly tough times and for the past three years have been one of the benchmarks of the competition.

Their coach Michael Maguire has worked wonders with them and despite the departure of Burgess, it is likely they will continue to be one of the front-running teams for years to come.

The big challenge now will be finding motivation to go again. There was so much history, disappointment and good will driving them this time and now will have a short break before heading back to the training paddock to do it all again.

Going back-to-back is no easy task. No team has done it since the competition became the NRL in 1998. Plenty have gone close, made two grand finals in a row but never been able to lift that trophy in successive years.

The Bulldogs will find themselves in a similar position. After a disappointing year last year and grand final defeat against the Melbourne Storm in 2012, Canterbury went so close again.

They will have a very similar outfit, albeit without their captain Michael Ennis, who will move to Cronulla.

But there will be others, including the Roosters, Manly, Penrith and probably even a few surprises who will be fighting all the way next year, fighting for premiership glory.